Dockside Manners?

[markpj23]

OK Sean - I experienced a slight variation on this theme the other day.... you may recognize this one too.

Wife and I hanking on the new genoa. Just the 2 of us wrestling the big sail, she at the mast winch and I up forward. Seemed like everyone in the marina chose that exact moment to come by and introduce themselves, talk about their last cruise, etc. Only one offered to help in any way.

Maybe it's just that this sleepy marina seldom sees any activity?

[ssullivan]

Ha ha ha... that is an interesting variation. I can relate, since I had the same exact situation. Putting the genoa back up, I had a couple people stop by as well. The first looked surprised and said, "looks like you've done that before." Pretty nice guy. The other just stopped by to chat. No problem there.

But then I had one more experience yesterday.

I was water testing the outboard and had some bad gas - yeah... I just ran it to find out if my gas was good or not... stupid, I know.

The minute the outboard quit and someone heard me pulling the start rope, they came RUNNING out from inside their boat and down the dock to stand next to me and tell my why my outboard wasn't working. Ha ha ha. I've started to really laugh at this stuff now...

We keep thinking it's a Long Island thing.... similar to the people who are "all talk" and all the drug users we are surrounded by. I'm telling you... my wife still has culture shock and she grew up here. ha ha

Another related issue. I have, on occasion, hired people to work on my boats. Of course, they know everybody, so, on my dime, everyone in the boatyard comes over to chat, and ask advice about their own projects. This was especially annoying with our first cruising boat, Petrel, as the person I hired was skilled labor, and charged accordingly. My wife was there working with him, but most of the time, she was on the inside of the boat, peaning the rivets, or backing hardware, so she would hear the guy chatting away at $25 an hour, while she was waiting to move to the next rivet. All in all, I would say I probably contributed about $2000 to the education of other boaters. Worst part is, with most of these guys, they get vindictive if you confront them. Just recently helped the current owner of that same boat run the boatright he hired off for the same reason.

[irwinsailor]

Sean try buying the biggest sailboat in the area that needs a great amount of work and see who tells you what and how to do things. I had hundreds of people come and see me work on the boat. Many would tell me that what ever I was doing at the time was wrong. I started asking if they had ever done the same repair, and most said no. and would stop tell me how to do it. I do like it when I hear about something that I don't know about from people in a area.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by irwinsailor

Sean try buying the biggest sailboat in the area that needs a great amount of work and see who tells you what and how to do things. I had hundreds of people come and see me work on the boat. Many would tell me that what ever I was doing at the time was wrong. I started asking if they had ever done the same repair, and most said no. and would stop tell me how to do it. I do like it when I hear about something that I don't know about from people in a area.

Ha ha ha... I can only imagine! Having sailed through that general area, I do remember the boat sizes... you definitely have the largest sailboat out there. So... I can see how everyone would crowd around and then start with the advice.

I suppose it all comes down to culture. I think where I grew up sailing, there was just a different culture. More like what Delmarrey describes when he was mentioning the lack of assistance at the dock in WA. People might take a peek at what you were doing, but only to laugh at you. Hell, the old timers would even crowd around at the edge of the pier to laugh at everyone using the boat ramp. They would be there for you in a pinch if you ever needed them, but mostly they would not interact and would just laugh at people doing things incorrectly.

Maybe it is I who the problem here. I'm an outsider from a different area with a different culture. There is more of a mob mentality than a individualism here.

[markpj23]

Say Kai - that's it!! All we have to do is cruise the docks and find the boatwright working on someone else's boat... free advice & professional tips!

I like it!

Yep! Where did you say you were docked? I would add, there seems to be a tag line that all boatrights use when asked how long and how much. 6 weeks and $15000. I have seen this quote given by 4 different boatrights, on 3 different boats, in 3 different locations. It also seems that when you are 3 months into the project, and $10000 over budget, the answer to how much more is still 6 weeks and $15000.

[GordMay]

The ”6 weeks and $15000" Kai Nui cites is the figure that “low-ball” boatwrights quote.
Quality tradesmen will tell you “3 months, and $30k” .... adding “more if you help, and even more yet if you buy the materials and gear”
You can select any two of: cost, quality & schedule.
Gord

Good, Cheap, and Fast. If it is good and cheap, it won't be fast. If it is cheap and fast, it won't be good, and if it is good and fast, it won't be cheap.

[CaptainK]

Kai.

Sounds to me that you got ripped off by some of those boatrights?

Do ya think?

So, here is the other side. I was painting the hull on the tri today. I have painted many boats, but all were wood. Appearantly, fiberglass takes a little different technic. I was using foam rollers (I have never had good results with them, not sure why I thought this time would be different). It just wasn't working. I had my helper start following behind with a brush. I looked back, and the paint was sagging badly. I went back over it with the roller trying to straighten it out. It was sort of like wiping up ink. Durring this time, one of the locals was watching, and he offered a couple of suggestions. It helped, but I was still getting really crappy results. He asked if he could give it a try. After about 10 minutes, the area looked like it had been sprayed. As it turns out, he was a house painter for 13 years. Long story short, I hired him to finish the job. While watching him, I asked a few questions, and now know what I was doing wrong. Cheap labor, cheap lesson. Had he approached me differently, I might have missed out on both. As it is, his helpful, rather than condecending approach made him some money, and gave me a professional quality paint job on my boat.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Wow what a great thread,
I have given this some serious thought, and I have developed a plan to both get rid of the know-it-alls and have a bit of fun in the process.
Any time any one tells you that you are doing something wrong, confidently claim that you are doing it intentionally. For example, tell the nice man at the water pump that air pockets keep the water in the tank fresher and that you pitty the fool that doesn't have air pockets in his water tank. Then see how long it takes for that advice to get back around to you.
Won't it be glorious to see people on the other side of the world "air pocketing" their water tanks, and what's more, you look an awful lot smarter than the guy who told you not to. It's fiendishly clever in it's
intricacies.
'till next time,
Dread Pirate Roberts

I like it. You are living up to your name.

[Charlie]

Dreaded Pirate:

You are trully evil. And I repect that. I must say that I laughed my head off over that one.

Charlie